


One good turn

by killerweasel



Series: Need Some Company [5]
Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 16:22:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel





	One good turn

Title: One good turn  
Fandom: Angel  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Lilah Morgan, Harmony Kendall, Angel  
Rating: R  
Word count: 1,551  
A/N: This is AU after _Angel's Reunion_

**One good turn**

The sound of a key sliding into the lock woke me up. I sat up, rubbing at my eyes. “It’s about time you got here...” My sentence was cut off by the muffled sound of a gunshot. The bullet tore through my bad arm as I tried to drop to the floor.

“Lindsey? What are you doing here?”

“What the hell, Lilah?” I wrapped my hand around the wound, hissing as pain flared through my arm. “Since when do you shoot first and ask questions later?”

She walked over to the lamp, turning it on. I could see fresh bruises on Lilah’s cheek. Now that the stench of gun powder was starting to fade, the scent of her blood hit my nostrils. “Since Little Carmine’s goons tried to kill me.”

“Little Carmine?” Ignoring the pain in my arm, I got to my feet and closed the distance between us. “Big Carmine’s a client of yours, right?”

“Wolfram and Hart warned both of them not to go after the witnesses, said we’d take care of things ourselves. They didn’t listen. There were five bodies to deal with last night, Lindsey, three of which were children accidentally hit by stray rounds.” She sighed. “I was the one who had to inform them that we were no longer representing their family for anything. They didn’t take it very well.”

Lilah cleared her throat before walking down the hallway. “I need to get clean. If you take care of my wounds, I’ll take care of yours.”

I followed her slowly, hesitating at the bathroom doorway. “Are you sure, Lilah?”

She began to shed clothing until there was a neat pile by the wall. Now I could see the wounds I’d smelled, plus a number of scrapes and bruises. Lilah turned her head and flashed me the ghost of a smile. “I’m sure.”

For a moment, I just stood there, listening to the sound of water hitting her skin. I wasn’t sure what we were any more. We weren’t enemies; those roles had vanished the moment the wine cellar doors closed. We weren’t rivals either. Without me there, she had no real competition. I doubted that this was going to be anything more than taking care of one another’s wounds, which took sex right off the table. Maybe we were friends. I blinked a couple of times. Were we even capable of being something like that?

It was a soft cry of pain that shook me from my thoughts and made me move. I quickly began to remove my clothing, leaving most of it scattered all over the bathroom floor. The ruined t-shirt landed in the trash. Taking a deep breath I didn’t need, I slipped into the shower behind her.

There was no scent of fear now. I closed the distance between us, watching her closely to make sure she hadn’t changed her mind about this. Lilah held out a soft cloth and closed her eyes. After I took it from her, I began to gently run it along her skin, making sure not to press too hard against any of the wounds I came across. “You did this for me before, didn’t you, Lindsey?” What she said was so low I almost missed it over the sound of the shower.

My fingers tightened around the cloth. “I wasn’t sure you remembered.”

\---

Lilah’s body was almost completely limp in my arms as I nudged my apartment door open with my foot. She belonged in a hospital, but I knew she wouldn’t want to be in one. Something like that would quickly spread like wildfire around Wolfram and Hart, the very last place you wanted anyone to think you were weak. At the firm, the weak were killed and eaten, sometimes literally. I set her down on the bed and went into the bathroom to get some supplies.

Darla thought I’d gone insane. She couldn’t understand why I was leaving or why I was bringing Lilah with me. It was yet another fight I wasn’t interested in having, so I’d just ignored her as I walked out the door. I was very tired of being used as a pawn in a game no one was going to win.

Once I had everything I needed, I came back out to the bedroom and sat down next to her. Lilah started to stir as I began to use warm water and a soft cloth to clean the crimson from her skin. Her fear hit my nostrils and my fingers tightened on the cloth I was holding until my knuckles went white. Without opening her eyes, Lilah made a whimpering noise and curled up smaller on the sheets. I leaned in and began to whisper in her ear.

“Lindsey?” She sat up slowly. I could see her body trembling and I held still, waiting to see what she was going to do. “I...” Lilah bit her lip before reaching towards me. I shifted my body, pulling her into my arms. The trembling intensified until I thought Lilah was going to shatter into a million pieces. “You’re so cold, just like them.”

“Sorry.” I wasn’t going to ask her if she was okay because I already knew the answer to that. Two people had made it out of Holland’s wine cellar- one of us was no longer a member of the living and the other was a new toy for an insane vampire to play with.

“I’m so tired.”

“I know.” I lowered us onto the mattress and kicked the covers over our bodies. “You can rest, Lilah. You’re safe now. I promise.”

She grabbed my bad arm with more strength than I thought possible. “Don’t leave me alone.”

“I won’t.” I kept my eyes open until I she drifted off to sleep. “I’m not going anywhere.”

\---

I swore loudly as Lilah poured peroxide over the hole in my arm. “Don’t be such a baby. It’s not like you can’t heal from something like that.”

“It still hurts.” I bit back another stream of curses while she began to bandage the wound. “Don’t worry about Little Carmine; I’ll take care of it.”

“That’s not your fight, Lindsey. It’s my problem and I’ll deal with it.” Lilah inspected the work she’d done. “And I think you’re all set.”

“I said I’ll take care of it.” I gave her a look and she gave me one right back. “I do have a favor to ask though.”

“If it’s about the head of marketing’s phone number, she said she’d rather screw a slime demon than go out with a vampire.” She snorted in amusement.

Scowling, I stood up. “I know you need a new secretary.” Lilah arched a brow at me. “I know someone who might be perfect for the job. She’s a friend of Cordelia’s.”

“I don’t think any of your fellow good guys belong at Wolfram and Hart, Lindsey.”

“She’s not exactly one of them. She’s...” I trailed off, trying to figure out the best description. “Harmony has a lot of potential. I think she’d do very well at the firm.”

Lilah stared at me for a moment. “What’s the real reason you want me to hire her?”

“If she keeps annoying Angel and his friends, I think she’ll be a pile of dust by the end of the week.” The look on Wesley’s face when Harmony used one of his books as a place to stick used chewing gum had been frightening.

“She annoys them?” A nasty smile spread across Lilah’s face. “Tell Harmony she can start Friday, provided she passes the tests they give her.”

“That’s great.” Harmony would be thrilled. I walked towards the door and paused. “How are you? Seriously.”

“Better.” Lilah cleared her throat. “You haven’t seen them around lately, have you?”

“They’re not in Los Angeles.” Last I’d heard, Drusilla was wandering around Sunnydale and I had no idea where Darla had gone.

“Good.”

\---

Harmony squealed with joy before launching herself at me. It was almost like being attacked by some kind of deranged octopus. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! It’s the best job _ever!_ ”

I tried to move my arms and couldn’t break free of her grip. “Harmony, you’re breaking my ribs.”

“Whoopsie.” She let go of me, dropping to the floor. Then her eyes widened. “I need to go shopping. Do any of the malls around here stay open late?” She giggled. “Why am I asking you? Hey, Cordelia! Guess what!” Harmony took off towards the office.

Chuckling softly, I turned back to the box in front of me. I carefully arranged the contents until everything was perfect. Just as I was about to put the lid on, Angel peered over my shoulder. “Is that a box of fingers and toes?”

“It’s a gift for a friend.”

“‘A gift for a friend’?” He backed away from me. “I don’t want to know.”

Harmony came bounding in my direction. For a second I thought she was going to leap on me again. I wrapped the box up and stuck a card on it with Lilah’s scrawled across the front. “When you see Lilah later, give her this.”

She shook it a couple of times. “What is it?”

“A surprise, you’ll see.” I walked away with a smile on my face.


End file.
